Mastering DraftSight Tool Palettes

Tool Palettes is a new feature in the Palettes section of the DraftSight 2024 user interface, providing quick access to various tools, commands, properties, and resources. This tutorial offers instructions for creating and modifying Tool Palettes.

Topics discussed

1. Introduction to Tool Palettes
2. Creating Palette Groups
3. Creating Tool Palettes
4. Adding Tools Into the Tool Palettes
5. Adding Existing Blocks to Tool Palettes
6. Add Block Libraries to Tool Palettes
7. Using Tool Palettes

Introduction to Tool Palettes

To access the Tool Palettes, right-click in a blank area of the Command Ribbon and select Tool Palettes.

The Tool Palettes will become available on the right edge of the graphics area. By default, DraftSight 2024 includes a Palette Group named Create and Modify, which includes Tool Palettes named Draw and Modify. These Tool Palettes include various tools and commands for creating drawing entities or modifying existing drawing objects.

To use these Tools, click on any icon or row, and the command will execute.

Creating Palette Groups

To help keep the Tool Palettes organized, it's helpful to put them into Groups that can be selected from the dropdown at the top of the Palette.

To create a Palette Group, click on the settings button at the top of the Palette and select Customize Palette.

On the left side of the dialog is every existing Palette, while on the right side is the structure of the Groups and the Palettes within each Group.

To create a new Palette Group, right-click in the right side of the dialog box and select New Group.

In the blank area, type Custom Group.

Click Close to exit the dialog box.

Creating Tool Palettes

As mentioned, Tool Palettes are a collection of frequently used tools, commands, properties, and resources. This section will demonstrate the process for creating an empty Tool Palette.

There are two ways to create an empty Tool Palette:

1. Expand the Tool Palette panel, select the Options icon, then New Palette.
   
   
   
   
2. Right-click on any Palette tab and select New Palette.
   
   
   
   The new Palette tab is Palette1. Type Custom Tools for the Palette name.
   
   
   
   Drag the Custom Tools Palette to the top of the panel.
   
   

Adding Tools to the Tool Palettes

Before adding tools to the new Palette, make a list of the tools required.

For this Palette, I will add annotation tools (Dimension commands), Smart, Linear, Parallel, Diameter, Radius, Angular, and Ordinate under one heading, then Simple Note, Note, and Check Spelling under another heading.

Then, add formatting to the Palette.

1. Right-click in the empty Palette and select Add Header.
   
   
   
   
   1. A new header will be created named New Header.
      
      
      
      
   2. Type Dimensions.
      
      
      
      
   3. Right-click below the new header and select Add Separator.
      
      
      
      
   4. Repeat step a and type Annotations.
      
      

There are two ways to add tools to the empty Palette:

1. Expand the Tool Palette panel and click on the Options icon. Then, click Customize Commands.
   
   
   
   
   1. The Customize- Commands dialog will open.
      
      
      
      
   2. Type Smart in the Find:
      
      
      
      
   3. Right-click on the command name Smart and select Add to Tool Palette.
      
      
      
      
   4. Repeat steps b and c for Linear, Parallel, Diameter, Radius, Angular, and Ordinate.
   5. Click OK to close the dialog.
   6. The Palette will look like this:
      
      
      
      
   7. CTRL+click the last command and SHIFT+click the first command, and drag above the separator. The Palette should look like this:
      
      
      
      
   8. Repeat steps b and c for Simple, Note, and Spell Check.
   9. This will be the result:
      
      

Adding Existing Blocks to Tool Palettes

To add existing blogs to a Tool Palette, open a file that includes blocks that are often used.

In this file, turn on the Block Structure Panel to see the blocks already defined.

The Block Structure Panel will preview any selected block in the drawing, as well as highlight the block in the drawing.

I will use the existing blocks in this drawing to add to the Custom Tools Palette.

Begin by repeating step c from the Adding Tools into the Tool Palettes section to add a separator and step a to create a new Header named Furniture. The result will look like this:

Select the block named Conference from the Block Structure Panel to highlight in the graphics area, then select the highlighted block and drag from the graphics area into the Tool Palette.

Repeat the process for the 4Top_Rect, 4Top_Round, and LoungeGroup. The result will look like this:

Add Block Libraries to Tool Palettes

Since the Nature Tool Palette is available with the installation, I will simply add it to my existing Group (Create and Modify).

To add a Tools Palette to a Palette Group, click on the Settings button at the top of the Palette and select Customize Palette.

Drag the Nature Tool Palette from the Palettes area into the Create and Modify Group below the Custom Tools Palette.

Click Close to save the changes and see the new Tools Palette.

Using Tool Palettes

To use anything from the Tools Palette, expand the Tools Palette panel and select a Palette with tools or blocks.

Click on any tool to execute the command or click on a block to insert it into the drawing.

We hope you find this article on mastering DraftSight Tool Palettes helpful. Check out more tips below. Additionally, check out the GoEngineer Community to participate in discussions, create forum posts, and answer questions from other SOLIDWORKS and DraftSight users. 

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